Graham Day, the former Deputy High Representative to BiH, launched a project called “Our Stories and Our Reality”, whose goal is through the use of modern computer programs carry out research on the social processes in the country.
He explained that it is necessary for BiH citizens to anonymously visit the website www.goo.gl/3cYB6 and tell their personal stories, which should be true and important for the person telling the story.
“The stories can be on anything. You can speak about your dog, your favorite football club, your tragedies, happy and sad moments. It can be a few sentences, or it can be as long as a novel. It is only important that the story is true, important and personal for the person telling it’’, explained Day.
The computer software that Day uses will process these stories and through them come to important social indicators. He explained that scientific research has shown that 70-80 percent of personalities are in the subconscious and that through personal stories and important ones these characteristics show and provide further precise information that are not immediately seen. He said that the advantage of this method in relation to conventional questionnaires is that they suggest answers through the questionnaires, and they do not take into account the subconscious part of the personality, which is most important for the decisions that people make.
“Through the software, I will analyze stories and draw hopes, fears, tension, aspirations and wishes from those who tell the stories’’, explained Day.
He said that he would especially like to tell his stories to young people, partly because young people are not given a great importance in social processes in bringing decisions, and partly because young people better manage information technology and can help older members of the family tell their stories.
He said that his goal is to gather at least 2.000 stories so that the research could be scientifically relevant. The first media presentation of the preliminary results will take place on 27 and 28 May and the project will continue after that.
“I believe that the results will show that people in this country are more together than they think. Information from these stories will be given to the media, NGO’s and all who are interested’’, said Day.
He said that this technique is new but has been used successfully in the past.
He said that given that he spent a lot of time in BiH and raised his own family here, his wish is for this project to be implemented first in BIH.
